8 things you probably didn’t know about the Royal Wedding

Today is the third anniversary of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who were married in front of an estimated audience of two billion people worldwide on 29th April 2011 at Westminster Abbey. To celebrate the occasion, we’ve researched into 8 facts you probably didn’t know about the Royal Wedding. Enjoy!

1. Most military uniforms don’t have pockets, and because Prince Harry was wearing his Blues and Royals uniform, the uniform’s trousers had no pockets for the ring! To resolve this problem, he carried the ring in the cuff of his tunic. Needless to say… he didn’t lose it!

2. At the moment the then Catherine Middleton married Prince William, she immediately fell into the curious situation of having no legal surname. When she needs one, she has the choice of Windsor, Mountbatten-Windsor or, as she has used herself already, Cambridge but as long as she is an HRH (and one day an HM), she’ll never have an official surname!

3. Despite being around for almost 1000 years, the wedding of William and Kate in 2011 was only the 15th Royal wedding to be held in Westminster Abbey in its history. Prior to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the last royal couple to marry in Westminster Abbey were Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York who married on 23rd July 1986.

4. Originally, Prince William wanted to wear his Irish Guards frock coat to his wedding (right) but his grandmother insisted on the Irish Guards full dress uniform (red tunic) – William said, “we had a couple of discussions over this matter – but as I learnt from growing up, you don’t mess with your grandmother!”

5. Before the Royal Wedding, Kate was not a member of the Church of England and has never been confirmed into the Church. As part of what was described by St James’s Palace as ‘part of her marriage preparations’ on 10th March 2011, Kate was confirmed at a ceremony at the Chapel Royal of St James’s Palace (where she would later have her son Prince George christened).

6. Although Prince William’s new titles of Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn and Baron Carrickfergus were announced on his wedding day, the formal instrument ‘granting’ the titles (letters patent) didn’t receive the great seal of the realm until 26th May, though because The Queen’s will is considered final as is, the titles are considered substantive from the moment The Queen orders.

7. It is not true that Kate was the first ‘commoner’ to marry into the Royal Family for centuries. The definition of a commoner is someone who is neither a peer or the Sovereign, which encompasses most of the royal brides at least from the last few decades.

8. Prince Harry’s role during the wedding ceremony was as a supporter rather than a ‘best man’ as Prince William is a member of the Royal Family. This terminology is only applied with Royal Weddings, if a male commoner married into the Royal Family, he would not have supporters.

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RW

Thank you, interesting!

Sidrak Sid

i like love my vote william so like

Redskier

Wouldn’t Catherine be able to use the surname Wales like William and Harry do?

Anne Williams

Dear Anne Hoffer,
I see your point. Since the subject is WEDDINGS: Maybe it could have been written this way?? : ‘The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton was only the 15th Royal wedding to be held in Westminster Abbey which has been around for a 1000 years.’

GumGum

Catherine Middleton was baptized into the Church of England as a baby (which is customary). So yes, she WAS a member of the church from that point. Confirmation is simply an adult affirmation that you believe and accept the creeds, etc. of that church.